Telecom, Tech Firms Contribute to Record Campaign
Telecom and tech firms are big contributors, enabling campaign spending that’s estimated at $5.3 billion for the 2008 elections, making it the most expensive campaign in U.S. history, the Center for Responsive Politics said Wednesday. Sheila Krumholz, the center’s executive director, said historically large givers are active, but this is the first election to make systematic use of online donations, she said.
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Online donors are multiplying, but they aren’t giving in large amounts, Krumholz said. “Guys like Joe the Plumber aren’t typically campaign contributors. You're more likely to see John the Bond Trader bankrolling these campaigns.”
The center ranked AT&T fifth among donors. It gave $3.3 million to candidates -- 56 percent to Republicans and 44 percent to Democrats. The four largest contributors in the study favored Democrats. Democratic grassroots group ActBlue led, followed by financial firms. Comcast, at 19th, gave $2.25 million, 67 percent to Democrats. Microsoft trailed Comcast slightly, at $2.22 million, 73 percent to Democrats. Time Warner gave 80 percent of its $2.1 million to Democrats. Verizon divided its $1.9 million nearly equally between the Democrats and the Republicans.
This cycle more than a million people have written checks for $200 or more to candidates, about the same as in 2004, the center said. “This is a real turning point in history,” said Cato analyst John Samples, who studies election spending. “It could be the beginning of an era in which small donors” make an impact with election spending, he said. But this election involves unique conditions, he warned. Donors are motivated by widespread discontent with Bush and his administration, and Democrat Barack Obama is generating a “lot of enthusiasm,” he said. In the future, Republicans may or may not be able to use online fundraising tools as effectively as Democrats, he added.
A new Republican National Committee Web site lets people contribute online. It also provides a search function for individual contributions. The site’s creation responds partly to public interest group pressure for more transparency, said a spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, among the groups pressing the Obama and John McCain campaigns for information on small donors and “bundlers,” who organize large parties to collect donations for candidates. McCain responded, but Obama hasn’t, he said.
The communications/electronics industry is following the trend toward the Democrats, the center’s data show. Members of the industry have given $101 million, 68 percent of it to Democrats. In 2004, 59 percent of its $102 million in donations went to Democrats. Similar patterns are emerging among TV, movie and music companies, which gave 75 percent of $34 million in contributions this cycle to Democrats versus 69 percent of nearly the same dollars in 2004.
The phone industry still favors Republicans but less than previously. This cycle phone companies gave GOP candidates 54 percent of $7.7 million. In 2004, GOP candidates got nearly 60 percent of $9.3 million in industry contributions.